Evaluation of Feed Resource Availability for Ruminant Production in Northern Ghana

2016

English

Livestock production system in northern Ghana is constrained by many factors of which feed shortage in quantity and quality constitute a major challenge. An evaluation of ruminant feed availability to identify critical seasonal shortages and other related constraints affecting ruminant production among smallholder farmers was done in northern Ghana (Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions). The data was collected by survey using focus group discussion and individual interviews with semi-structured questionnaire. Mean flock size per household was found significantly higher (P<0.05) in Upper East Region (1.5 ± 0.21 TLU) than Northern (1.04 ± 0.2 TLU) and Upper West (0.66 ± 0.23 TLU) Regions. Feed resources found in the area for ruminants were crops residues, natural pasture and agro-industrial by-products such as corn milling waste, brewers’ spent grain, maize bran, and rice bran. Few households had stands of browse plants like Leucaena leucocephala, Cajanus cajan and Gliricidia sepium. Dry matter contribution of annual ruminants’ diet came from different categories of feed resources. This included natural pasture, crop residue supplementation, collected natural fodder, cultivated fodder and purchased feed. Natural pasture grazing contributed the highest dry matter percentage of the diet (60, 56 and 58% for Northern Upper East and Upper West Regions respectively) while cultivated fodder dry matter contribution was the lowest. Feed accessibility to animals increased after crop harvest and shortage gap occurred in the dry season and became critical from February to April annually. During acute period of feed scarcity, respondents estimated that 20% of the required feed was accessible in natural pasture in Northern and Upper West Regions and 10% in Upper East Region. Other livestock production constraints identified were high incidence of disease and mortality, poor housing and high cost of veterinary drugs. Opportunities identified were availability of grazing land, high market demand for livestock and livestock products and availability of labour. To improve livestock productivity, efforts should be made to reduce the incidence of diseases through appropriate health provision and good supplementary nutrition.

Konlan, S. P.; Ayantunde, A. A.; Addah, W.; Dei, H. K.; Avornyo, F. K.